New Hauppage Colossus HD-PVR internal card
 

I finally got a DirecTV HR22 HD-DVR in my media room, where my XP and W7 PCs are, so the next step in my epic project, to record HD video, is to purchase a suitable video card or standalone box. I just found out about the new-ish (1/2011) Hauppauge Colossus PCI Express Internal HD-PVR TV Tuners & Video Capture 1414 card, and it sounds pretty promising. In one of the reviews on Amazon, a user says he's using it exclusively to record HD from his already recorded shows on a DirecTV DVR.
Apparently, component video HD can be recorded from the DVR's component output (at 720i), as well as non-HDCP-encrypted shows via the HDMI input (from the DVR's HDMI output, at 1080i).
I suppose I could also run a coax feed from my attic off-air antenna, although the Colossus doesn't have a coax input, so I'd have to use something to change the coax into a form the Colossus accepts.
Anyway, I'm cautiously optimisitc about this card, so was wondering if anyone else has used it, yet, or has any thoughts about its advantages and disadvantages. Thanks very much!

Hauppauge is a good brand of video capture card, historically. Many great sets were created on the older Hauppauge PVR 50 and 350 series cards. To a lesser degree, even with the problematic PVR-150 cards. Some of the earlier "HD" PVR cards were atrocious, but I would imagine much of that has been sorted in the past 4 years. The problem is always the software, with Hauppauge cards. You're often limited to "TiVo-like" software, or the Hauppauge WinTV software (which can go both ways -- sometimes great, sometimes pure crap).

So cautiously optimistic is the perfect attitude here. :)

I don't have much else for you, however. You'll be our guinea pig, methinks. At best, you may contact (PM) TVPreservation.com member "Padre" (or "Padre2", I forget), as he has been a big fan and user of Hauppauge. Again, historically. I know my 150 card came from him, as a used/cheap hand-me-down.

Well, I don't mind being a pioneer on this one. For one thing, I want to report once and for all what channels are using HDCP and which ones aren't. Seems to be a state secret! I believe users of the Colossus are using other programs, than those supplied by Hauppage, to either capture the video, and certainly to author and burn it.

Yeah, share your findings. :)

Per another Colossus user on 3/1/11: stanger8903-01-11, 04:33 PM
Depends on the box, appears Dish and DirecTV don't do HDCP, at least not on non-PPV channels.

Finally received the Colossus card. Couldn't get it into PC, but the next night I unhooked all PC connections and did the old "put it on the kitchen table with a good light overhead" trick, and found that HP PCs have an L-shaped bracket on the rear, that must be removed before inserting a new card. duh.. OK! Card in. Instructions then specify that cable connections are to be made between source (DirecTV HD-DVR) and card. I need about 18 feet, and soon found that Best Buy's cord prices are legalized robbery! Happily, found excellent quality (per reviews) component video and even HDMI cables for great prices on Amazon, and ordered same.
While waiting for those to arrive, thought I'd connect some of my own cables, using RCA jack/RCA jack extenders, but then ran into another dilemma. I'm already using both sets of composite audio connections from the HD-DVR: 1 runs to my DVD/VCR and then coax to TV, to watch the darned thing, and the other set runs to my HP/Compaq XP PC, to make standard DVD-Rs. Finally figured out I could use the S/PDIF Toslink optical digital audio connections in HD-DVR and Colossus. So... not having those lying around, I ordered a well-reviewed 20ft cable, and am now waiting for all 3 sets to arrive. After they do, and are all connected, the next step is to load the CD-ROM program software.
Ahhh yes! At the last minute, I swerved to avoid a catastrophe (per an Amazon Colossus review), and am installing the card in my HP W7 PC instead of the XP with my ATI All-in-Wonder card. The PO'd reviewer said he learned the hard way that Colossus cannot be installed in a PC that already has an existing video card. That would have been major train wreck! Over and out for now...

you should have bought cables from monoprice.com super cheap prices

Maybe I did! ;>)

Whew... can't believe the low prices and high quality reviews at monoprice.com! I'll have to start using them from now on! Thanks!

FINALLY got all the connections made and software loaded last night, and opened the WinTV "window" on my PC today. Both the component TV video/Toslink digital optical audio combo and the HDMI connections provided amazingly detailed video. AND!... I made .mpg4 1920X1080 (p, I believe) recordings from both the component/TDOA and HDMI inputs. I was so incredulous that DirecTV wasn't using HDCP on HDMI that I UNPLUGGED the 3 component video cables from the HD-DVR, just to ensure that I really was watching HDMI, which proved it. The recordings are short--about a minute each -- but they're there, all right, much to my amazement. The Colossus' "Best" video recording setting uses about a Mb per second, or 60Mb/minute, which would equal 7.2Gb for a 2-hour movie. It would fit on a double layer standard DVD-R. Anyway, the newsworthy part is that I can find NO DirecTV channel that is HDCP encrypted, so the guy I quoted was right. Probably, the only encrypted channels are the pay-per-view movies, which I don't use, anyway.
Next stop: Authoring. That's another post. For right now, I'm in recording heaven!
Cry for help: My Toslink plugs aren't plugging in very well through the tiny plastic "door" in the plastic plugs inserted in the jacks of the Colossus and HD-DVR. Should I just pull out the whole plastic plug, before inserting the Toslink plugs? I think the Toslink plugs are supposed to click in at a certain point, keeping them tight. I could barely get them to work today, just having their plugs push open the plastic "door," into the interior of the jacks. Thanks!

so what are you planning to make sets of?

Probably rock concerts, certain documentaries. Not terribly much, because right now the Blu-Ray blanks are pretty expensive (although you probably know where to get them the cheapest :>). I already have more good shows than I can possibly watch, so I plan to record only the programs I really want to have and keep: concerts like Radiohead or Porcupine Tree; docs of subjects that I'm REALLY interested in. Certain classic (to me) movies, that rarely if ever are shown; that sort of thing. I really wasn't much into TV shows, from childhood on, and those I did watch (L.A. Law, The Practice, The Paper Chase, NYPD Blue), I've seen once, and that's all I'll have time for in this lifetime...

i have no idea where to get bluray blanks for cheap. i have yet to go that route although i would like to but dont think i would get much trades from them yet either.

Yeah, you probably wouldn't, at least at this point. I know I saw a 5-pack of a reputable brand for $10, so $2 ea. isn't so bad, especially since I'll be using them so sparingly. For any programs under 8.8Gb in size, I could split it and put the first part on one 25¢ DVD-R and the second part on a second disc, which is 1/4 the cost of a Blu-Ray. Of course, since the BR blanks are 25Gb (per http://www.amazon.com/Blu-ray-Blank-...uct/B002YSH6FI ), I could fit 3 8Gb programs on one BR (which I see can now be had for $1.33 each, per this link), so that's 5¢/Gb, as opposed to 5.6¢/Gb for a 4.438Gb normal DVD-R. Looks like BR actually is cheaper!! I must be dreaming...

Attachment 1245


Here is a screenshot of my PC screen with ArcSoft Showbiz program open and recording a high def Jeff Beck concert file from the HD-DVR.

Hi! Well, the last 2 weeks or so have been occupied by trying to find and get a Blu-Ray writer/burner drive, and I finally did so, choosing an LG WH12LS30, which had very good reviews. Also got some blank BD-Rs, at only about $1.20 each for 25Gb variety at Microcenter here in KC (in 10-pack, $3 off the $15 normal price). I just finished swapping the BD player drive for the LG, so I'm ready to try to make my first BD-R! It's after 1 a.m., though, so going to give it up for the evening and try on Sunday.
So far, I have captured about 16 HD movies, concerts, etc., totalling 92Gb. It's phenomenal to me to think that all of these can be stored on 4 BD-Rs! About 25¢ a show.... Stay tuned...

You have two computers: The ATI one, and the other.
What's the make/model of the ATI computer?

The old XP PC is an HP D530. It has the ATI 7500 All-in Wonder card I use to make SD DVD-Rs. The new PC is a Windows 7 HP E9120Y. It also has an internal ATI video card. I wasn't sure which one to which you were referring, so I cited both.

The Hauppauge Colossus card is in the HP E9120Y. I'm trying to use TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4 (yes, I'm forced to learn it, now!) to author these BR files, and it's crashing a lot, when I'm playing the video in Edit mode. I'm just having to add my start and end points around various ads and stuff I want to remove, and cutting them. I was able to add the chapters every 5 minutes (my standard) and add a menu. Currently, I'm letting TMP render the files, and it's verrryyy slow. Looks like it will take 10 hours for a 2-hour show. Also, TMP sez the 9Gb file, I'm trying to make into a BDR, will use 23GB of a 25GB BD-R! That, I don't get. More to come...

Well, it actually took 36 hours (!) for TAW4 (TMPGEnc Authoring Works 4) to render the BR files for a high-def Jeff Beck concert, recorded at 12MB/s Constant Bit Rate, lasting 1:44 and occupying 9 Gb. I then, using TAW4, burned the files onto a BD-R, and it played perfectly in my Samsung Blu-Ray player! So, it cost $1.20 just for thatshow, but I'm now experimenting on how to economize. I recorded the same 10-min. segment of an outdoor concert HD file, from HD-DVR, using 6, 8, 10 and 12 MB/s CBR, allowing VBR for peak needs, then transferred the files to a flash drive, inserted the drive into the BR player and played each one to compare. The 8, 10 and 12 MB/s versions look almost identical. The only noticeable pixilation, or other aberrations, I saw was on the 6 Mb/s version. Their file sizes are: 6Mb/s: 4.5Gb; 8Mb/s: 5.9Gb; 10 Mb/s: 7.1Gb; and 12MB/s: 8.5Gb. So........ the 8Mb/s version is only 70% of the 12Mb/s size, so maybe I'll start recording most things at 8Mb/s. There are other variables, so I'll start exploring those soon and report back. That is all. Breckenridge.

why does it need to render at all when you are recording hd and putting it to bluray? sounds like it is reconverting or your computer is to slow for this. is there any errors on the playback?

nevermind looked up the specs its not bad so i dunno why that takes so freaking long.

Found out that the BR file type, that TAW4 (or similar program) renders to the file folder, is an M2TS type file. So, I stopped capturing shows in MPG4 format and started capturing in M2TS. M2TS is almost identical to the 3rd capture type, TS, except that (per a forum entry), "M2TS adds a four byte timestamp to each packet, which can help with timing during playback (192 byte packets vs 188 byte in .ts files)."
I let TAW4 author a 1:35 length movie, which started as a 5.8 Gb (for just the actual movie) M2TS file , but rendered to about 17Gb. It took only about 1:45 to do that, so that was encouraging.

TAW4 only authors in MPEG-2, not H.264.
That's probably the problem -- it is reconverting the video to another format.

Very few GUI tools author H.264 Blu-ray.

Trouble last night and day with TAW4 stopping in the middle of authoring M2TS files for BR-Ds. Always seems to hang up with the menus, not the actual movie images. I started wondering if I could just burn the raw MPG4 and M2TS files straight to a BR-D. Well, ImgBurn easily did that, and I can add movies WITHOUT the huge increase in size that authoring them creates. Of course, none of the extraneous stuff is edited, nor are there menus, but if the movie is ad-free, anyway, that's no big deal. So.... I burned 2 MPG4 and 1 M2TS movie onto 1 BD-R, and the MPG4 movies played perfectly in my Samsung BR player, as video data files. I can even fast forward them at 3 different speeds! The M2TS movie file was not recognized, or even acknowledged as being on the BD-R, by the BR player, so that leaves them out, unless I can convert them to MPG4. Also, in an unrelated idea, I burned several FLV files to a SD DVD-R, and 4 of the files played just fine in the Samsung. Four others wouldn't play, for lack of a codec. Maybe I can find and include the codecs on the DVD, or somehow upload them to the Samsung.

I just lost a thorough explanation I wrote, so am going to try to write it again....
After much experimentation and contact with TAW4 team in Tokyo, I found that I need to capture HD video in M2TS or TS file type, then author (editing and menus) and render using TAW4's Smart Rendering function. This allows TAW4 to render files and menus without stalling at the menus and renders in about half the time (6-7 hours for a 25Gb disc) than rendering MP4s. TAW4 stalled at menus when rendering MP4 files, because it has to re-encode the file type. It did that OK for the actual videos, but not the menus. I'm going to make BR discs of my remaining 43 or so MP4 files without menus, so they will render OK (although in about twice the time), but that's OK, as my Sony BR player can find and play any chapter in any title, which is what I use menus for, anyway.
Also found that capturing HD at 8Mb/s, then rendering it at 10Mb/s, lets me have about 4+ hours of HD on a 25Gb disc, which is about 30 cents an hour.

I found that my audio/video out of sync problems were caused by me capturing HD-DVD files in M2TS. Since I've switched to recording them in TS format, the resulting rendered files are perfectly in sync, from start to finish.

You made 3 posts in a row, and nobody replied...

... but some of us are reading. Just an FYI. I'm paying attention. Thanks for sharing. :)

Appreciate that! I'm finding that, in order to get the maximum benefit of a 25Gb BR disc, I need to balance the capture rate of the program (currently ArcSoft ShowBiz 3.5, at 12 Mb/s) and the rendering rate of TAW-4 (anywhere from about 13 - 25 Mb/s). If I have 2 programs to render to one disc, I may render one at 14 Mb/s and the other at 22 Mb/s, if I'm being more particular about the video quality on the second program. If I'm going flat out for perfection, I'll render one program at the maximum 25 Mb/s, if that will fit onto a 25 Gb disc; and it usually will, unless it's over 3 hours long. I did that for Koyaanisqatsi, which has those incredibly busy, sped up video montages (and, it looks perfect!) and for the Matrix movies I mentioned earlier. On the other hand, rendering a doc. like Prohibition, which mainly features static photographs, at a high rate is a waste of disc space. I burnt two two-hour episodes of that program onto one disc, and it looks perfect to me (viewing a 46" TV about 8 feet away, wearing glasses).

Apparently, I have at least 2 threads going about the same subject (Blu-Ray disc creation), so I guess I'll post to this one today. I thought that my TAW-4 rendered files were out of audio and video sync because I was capturing in M2TS mode, instead of TS mode, but now I don't think that's necessarily true, because some of the rendered TS files are out of sync (only toward the end of the program), too. I wondered if capturing those files, in the first place, should not be done while I was rendering other files with TAW-4, so I tried capturing files with nothing else running (of any sizeable CPU use) on my PC, and so far, the rendered files, of those captured TS files (I'm staying with TS), are in sync from start to finish. So, maybe that was the culprit. Like I've said, I'm basically having to find all this out on my own, but I'm more than happy to share with others who might be trying to create BDs, or at least are mulling over the possibility. I wrote a favorable review of the Hauppauge Colossus video capture card on Amazon, and a couple of people have thanked me for my thoughts. Anyway, hope we all have a great 2012!!!!!!!!!!

I think my first guide-making project will go through Adobe Encore CS4, since I own it.
Need to eliminate software problems first, verify the computer and workflows are working as desired.

I'll look at slumming it with novice methods next. :p

Cool! We'll be interested in how it goes for you.

Well, there's no shadow of a doubt, now. I made a new capture of the movie that was in sync in the original capture, and out of sync after rendering with TAW-4, this time withOUT TAW-4 rendering another program, and it rendered perfectly in sync. So, I will NOT capture one file and render another simultaneously. Too bad. It was a great time saver. The name of the movie: Shadow of a Doubt.

I connected the composite V/L audio/R audio cables, from my switcher (to which my VHS/DVD and audio receiver are connected, plus another port for camcorder recordings, etc.) to my Colossus card, using the blue portion of the component input for the composite video (per the Colossus owner's manual) and it worked!! Now, I can record HD stuff via HDMI and old VHS or Beta tapes, cassettes, records, etc. via the composite input. I'm doing this to gradually but surely move all the recording stuff from my dying HP Windows XP PC to my HP Windows 7 PC.

Tip: Record the old stuff as 15Mb/s MPEG-2 720x480, and burn to Blu-ray. It'll look better than a DVD, and still have more fit on a single disc. Just use good media, and keep secondary backups of the source files either to DVD-R/DVD+R or hard drives.

What's wrong with it, exactly? It's only a few years old now, right? Circa late 2009? At worst, the hard drive may be giving out, but I can't imagine anything else being wrong. What are the symptoms? Maybe this is just a false alarm. Whatever you do, don't trash that ATI card. Or even the motherboard, CPU and RAM, for that matter. We can always find those parts a second home.

dying HP Windows XP PC
 

It will reboot for no discernible reason. Sometimes I find out it's done this when I use the KVM switcher to go back to it, and see that it's rebooted, but I have, on occasion, actually seen it happening. There's a brief "blue screen of death" (with white characters), then it reboots, just like when I first turn on the PC. Sometimes, when it reboots, I'm in the middle of recording some video on MM8.7, but sometimes it happens when I'm recording some music from a website onto SF9.:confused:

That's typically an overheating issue. Be sure the CPU fan is working, be sure the power supply (PSU) fan is working.

If the CPU fan is working, consider removing the motherboard, pulling off the CPU fan/heatsink, wiping it clean with alcohol on a non-linty napkin, and reapplying a glaze (not glob, but glaze!) of heat paste. You can get a little tube of the stuff at Microcenter or Fry's for about $2.

"Non-linty" isn't a special term. Cheap napkins have lint come off. Don't use napkins from Taco Bell, etc, either. Use a napkin off a nice paper towel roll. Even the cheap stuff from Kroger works fine.

Put Saran Wrap (or generic plastic wrap) around your finger, and then put a little drop of the goo on it. Start from the center of the CPU, and smear it outwards. Then even it up into a glaze. It should still be partially see-through, as it's a glaze. You're not icing a cupcake. If there's too much, change the plastic wrap on your finger, and wipe some off as needed.

Then put it all back together again.

If that's not it, it's bad RAM. That's about a $25 fix from eBay, since it's old-style RAM. But bad RAM is far less likely than the overheating CPU.

So $2 and a few hours of time to fix this one. :)

I will try that when I can get a good block of time free. Might be this weekend.

Obviously, I'll check the 2 fans first.